The Joan Bavaria Award is presented annually by Ceres and Trillium Asset Management to recognize a unique investor or NGO leader who is working to transform the capital markets into a system that balances economic prosperity with social and environmental concerns. The next award will be presented at Ceres Conference 2019 in San Francisco, CA.

Please see further details around eligibility and nomination criteria outlined below. For more information contact Brittany Cipriano, Events and Sponsorship at Ceres via email at cipriano@ceres.org.

Eligibility

- Nominees must come from the investment or NGO communities.

- Nominees must share the spirit of collaboration and coalition building demonstrated by Joan Bavaria and the organizations she founded (Trillium Asset Management, Ceres).

- Nominees cannot have demonstrated a pattern of egregious behavior counter to the spirit of the award.

- Anonymous or self- nominations, and nominations of an organization will not be considered.

- Employees of Trillium, Ceres, and participating judges will not be considered.

Nomination Criteria

- The nomination must highlight individual accomplishments of the nominee, rather than an organization.

- The nomination must answer the central premise of each question.

- The nomination must provide explicit examples of both innovation & impact.

- Nominations without a third party reference letter of endorsement will not be considered.

Joan Bavaria was a pioneer of social investing, using her vision and passion to help catalyze change in the capital markets. She dedicated her life to exploring and developing all means of social investing and to educating and motivating other investors. Among other endeavors, she founded Trillium Asset Management and Ceres; her influence is still reflected by their efforts today.

In 2008, Ceres and Trillium Asset Management created the Joan Bavaria Award in Joan's honor, after she lost her prolonged battle with cancer. Joan was recognized as a personal hero by many sustainability leaders. The Joan Bavaria Award aims to carry on Joan’s legacy by honoring other sustainability heroes across the planet.

Richard Ferlauto, co-founder of the 50/50 Climate Project and a former Deputy Director at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was posthumously awarded the 2018 Joan Bavaria Award during the Ceres Conference 2018 in Boston, MA. The award was presented in honor of Ferlauto's enduring legacy in promoting social and environmental reform in capital markets.

Ferlauto was recognized for his relentless, career-spanning leadership in advocating for corporate governance, responsible investment and shareholder rights. He was an early advocate for "Say on Pay", whereby a firm's shareholders have the right to vote on executive compensation packages, as well as for investors' rights to Proxy Access to further transform corporate board accountability. Ferlauto also served as a member of the Ceres Board of Directors from 2004 until 2010 and went on to become Deputy Director at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Investor Education and Advocacy from 2010 through 2014. Later in his career, Ferlauto co-founded the 50/50 Climate Project, a nonprofit resource and action center helping investors bring climate competence to corporate boards.

To read more about his legacy and accomplishments related to the Bavaria Award, please click here.

Founded by Joan Bavaria, Trillium Asset Management is an employee-owned investment management firm with over $2 billion in assets under management. Trillium integrates Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into the investment process as a way to identify the companies best positioned to deliver strong long-term performance. Learn more.